AustLit

'In 1720s Scotland, a priest and his son get lost in the forest, transporting a witch to the coast to stop her from being killed by the village.

'In the sad, slow years after the Second World War, Ruth finds herself the replacement wife to a recent widower and stepmother to his two young boys, installed in a huge house by the sea and haunted by those who have come before.

'Fifty years later, Viv is cataloguing the valuables left in her dead grandmother's seaside home, when she uncovers long-held secrets of the great house.

'Three women, hundreds of years apart, slip into each other's lives in a novel of darkness, violence and madness.' (Publication summary)

'Mouse by name, mouse by nature.

'Mouse is not prepared for her last-minute stay at Aunt Evie’s. How will she cope at a new school without her parents around?

'But before Mouse has even unpacked her suitcase, she makes a new friend – a wombat called Miss Pearl!

'Suddenly, being in a strange cottage doesn’t seem so bad, especially when she can snuggle up with a wombat.

'Mouse soon learns that not everyone in the area loves wombats, including Aunt Evie’s landlord, a sheep farmer who destroys them on sight.

'Can Mouse find her voice in time to keep her furry friends safe? ' (Publication summary)

'On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride; an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be borne by the people of Rollrock - the men, the women, the children - once Misskaella sets her heart on doing such a thing?'

Source: Publisher's website.

'Tender Morsels is a dark and vivid story, set in two worlds and worrying at the border between them. It is a gloriously told tale of journeys and transformations, penetrating the boundaries between male and female, reality and myth, conscious and unconscious, temporal and spiritual, human and beast.

'Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, given to her by natural magic and in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters, gentle Branza and curious Urdda, grow up in this harmonious world, protected from the violence and village prejudice that once made their mother's life unendurable.

'But the real world cannot be denied forever, and gradually the borders break down between Liga's refuge and the place from which she escaped. Having known heaven, how will Liga and her daughters survive back in the world where beauty cannot be separated from cruelty? How far can you take your fantasies before they grow dangerous? How fully can you protect your children, and how completely should you?' (Publisher's blurb)

'Andy Larkham is late. He is due at the funeral of his favourite school teacher, who once told him: "It's hard work being anyone." It's especially hard for Andy - stuck in a dead-end job, terminally short of cash and with a fiancée who is about to ditch him. When the funeral leads to unexpected consequences, Andy has to ask himself: how far will he go to change his life?

'From early-twentieth-century Turkey to modern day London, Nicholas Shakespeare takes us on an extraordinary journey that explores the temptations of unexpected wealth, the secrets of damaged families and the price of being true to oneself. At once a love story spanning many decades and a tragedy of betrayal and missed opportunities, it is a romance for our times.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Heaven must be missing an angel ... The angel Bethany and her mortal love, Xavier, have already pushed the boundaries of Heaven with their relationship. In this conclusion to the Halo trilogy, the two take their love to the next, forbidden, step: they marry. At a time when they believe nothing will come between them again, they are faced with their most daunting challenge yet - The Sevens, a military order of angels designed to maintain balance in the universe. These soldiers won't stop until their job is done - capture the wayward angel and send her home. Beth discovers there is only one way back to Earth, but the cost is higher than she ever imagined. If she can survive, she can prove to Heaven and Earth that there is nothing stronger than the power of love.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove.

'But everything changes when three angels, Ivy, Bethany and Gabriel are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings. But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls for the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him?

'Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth.'

'The angels and Xavier must work together to overcome the dark forces - but will Beth survive the battle?' (From the publisher's website.)

'Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.

'Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother; falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu.

'And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.' (Publisher's blurb)

'When a plane crashes into the Antarctic ice, exposing a massive cave beneath, a rescue and research team is dispatched.

Twenty-four hours later, all contact is lost.

Captain Alex Hunter and his highly trained squad of commandos are fast tracked to the hot zone to find out what went wrong - and to follow up the detection of a vast underground reservoir. Accompanying the team is an assortment of researchers, including petrobiologist Aimee Weir. If the unidentified substance proves to be an energy source, every country in the world will want to know about it - some would even kill for it.

Once inserted into the cave system, they don't find any survivors - not even a trace of their bodies. Primeval hieroglyphs hint at an ancient civilisation, and an ancient danger. Spectres of the dead haunt the tunnels. Within hours, one of the party will die.

"Soldiers, we are not alone. Prepare to go hot."

To bring his team out alive, Alex will need every one of his mysterious abilities beneath the dark ice.' (From the publisher's website.)

A serial kidnapper is targeting children and demanding the most macabre of ransoms. Bu the time Glass is put on the case, a fourth child has been taken and two women are dead. There are few leads to go on and the police commissioner is looking for someone to blame.

Source: Publisher's Blurb

'Three generations of women search for love and acceptance

'Daughter of Italian immigrant Eve, and mother of beautiful Jasmine and headstrong Ella, Nina’s life has always been bound to those of other women.

'For the girl who longed for freedom and art, her dreams seem distant when she finds herself raising her daughters with only her mother’s support. Out of Place charts Nina’s course through life, from her girlhood, when her mother’s European ways are a puzzle and an embarrassment, through her troubled marriage to a man who is always looking elsewhere for happiness, to her struggles as a mother.

'But just when these three generations of feisty women seem to be pulling together and looking to a happier further, where their lives and loves can be balanced by distance and independence, a tragic accident tears them apart.

'Set against the beaches of Perth and the searing heat and harsh beauty of Central Australia, Jo Dutton delicately illustrates the frustrations, problems, joy and love that each of these generations gives and takes from each other as Nina learns, through heartbreaking lessons, that come what may, her life will always be touched by these three amazing women.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2013 ed.).

"I watched the glaze of headlights, the windscreens of oncoming cars: a series of trapezoids with the silhouette of a single male driver. One pulled up in front of me; I reached over and opened the door, slid in. The smell of an unfamiliar car. A middle-aged man looking at me. 'Hi', I said. 'How are you?"...

'There was no single moment when someone looked at Kate Holden and said, 'Why don't you have some?' No one made her try heroin. There was only the sense, with her friends setting out on this forbidden adventure, that she would lose something if she didn't. Just once: to know. So this book is the story of a journey. From a loving family home to the streets of St Kilda; from a shy, bookish life to the ambivalent glamour of an inner-city brothel, Kate Holden describes with breathtaking lyricism and poignancy her travels in an unknown world. Contains explicit sexual scenes.' (Source: Vision Australia Information and Library Service)

'Raymond Maillot is a lustful young notary who prefers wine, women and song to the pursuit of professional renown. But when he's employed by Father Amiel, a sober Dominican monk charged with investigating a particularly shocking murder, his life begins to change. Now Raymond is torn between his taste for irresponsible pleasures and his desire to find refuge in the Church. His journey of self-discovery, however, begins with a severed penis.' (Source: Libraries Australia)